Wiltshire Council overspends on car parks

Wiltshire County Council has wasted £180,000 of tax payer's money by ignoring Lib Dem calls for an hour's free car parking across the county.

A recently released Council Agenda has revealed the true scale of car parking mismanagement in the county as WC Parking Services overspent by £180,000 on predicted targets for the last financial year.

Historically, the county has enjoyed a policy of 'one hour's free parking' in all towns. However, the Conservative run council have repealed this system to the detriment of local town centres and have repeatedly ignored requests by Liberal Democrats for a return to one hour's free parking, which would incentivise people to support their local town centres and greatly enhance the local economy.

The benefits gained by introducing an hour's free parking were shown clearly during December 2012 when the Council trialled a month long hour's free parking scheme, during which trade boomed in town centres and the council accrued £58,000 of additional car parking revenue from the increased footfall.

Lib Dem Councillor Jon Hubbard said 'It is evident that Wiltshire Council is discouraging shoppers from frequenting towns by charging exorbitant car parking rates. Our proposals to provide one hour's free parking in our town centres has been proven to encourage more shoppers to shop locally and support our businesses and our local economy. Wiltshire Council is losing taxpayers' money by not providing an hour's free parking.'